Claim to premiums and benefits in labour-law relationships

Employers often motivate their employees by different kinds of premiums, benefits and other variable wage components that depend on work performance of the employee or on the economic outcome of the employer.

It is important to distinguish whether the employee is entitled to obtain these wage components only on the grounds of fulfilment of agreed requirements and conditions or whether a decision of the employer is also required. The Supreme Court has many times expressed its opinion on the matter of the origination of the claim to premiums and benefits, recently it has expressed following opinion (Reference Number 21 Cdo 3167/2013).

In case that the conditions for the origination of the claim to premiums are determined in detail and the determination of the specific amount is mostly only a matter of arithmetic calculation, the decision of the employer is not required for the claim to premiums to arise. In such case, eventual decision of the employer about the premium may be seen by the court only as a formal confirmation of the fulfilment of given conditions and therefore, the decision may only be declaratory